Baltimore Orioles at Cleveland Indians

The Indians took the final three of a four-game series at Camden Yards April 20-23, and have won nine of the past 11 meetings. Cleveland has posted a 1.95 ERA in those 11 contests, striking out 104 with 16 walks while allowing 69 hits over 97 innings.

Baltimore closed a six-game homestand Wednesday with a 16-5 loss to the Mets, its sixth defeat in seven games overall. The Orioles surrendered at least 10 runs for the 15th time this season, ranking behind only the White Sox (19) and Marlins (16) in that category.

The Indians held on for their fifth straight victory Wednesday, 4-3 over the Reds as five relievers combined for 4 2/3 scoreless innings. The win was the 10th in 12 games for Cleveland, which since July 25 leads the majors in ERA (2.28), opponent batting average (.213) and WHIP (1.04).

Baltimore's Trey Mancini is batting .309 (17-for-55) with five home runs and 13 RBI in 24 games since the All-Star break. He hit .194 with four homers and eight RBI in 24 games leading up to the Midsummer Classic.

Carlos Carrasco is 5-1 with a 2.05 ERA in his last seven starts. In his last two starts against Baltimore, he has allowed one run over 13.1 innings with 17 strikeouts. Carrasco's 32 wins since the start of 2017 rank second in the majors to teammate Corey Kluber's 33.

This series against the lowly Orioles will give Cleveland 22 straight games vs. sub-.500 teams before opening a set against the MLB-best Red Sox on Monday. The Indians' 48 wins against clubs under the break-even mark rank second in the majors to Boston's 51.

CLEVELAND -- Two teams that are a study in contrasts will meet Friday night at Progressive Field to open a three-game series: The Cleveland Indians, who have the biggest lead in any division in the majors, will face the Baltimore Orioles, who are the farthest out of first place of any last-place team in the big leagues.

Carrasco has been on a roll for most of the season, but since coming off the disabled list on July 6 he has been almost unbeatable. Carrasco was placed on the 10-day disabled list on June 17 with a right elbow contusion, the result of getting hit by a line drive.

He was activated on July 6, and in eight appearances since then he is 6-1 with a 2.00 ERA. In 45 innings, he has 59 strikeouts and five walks.

"He came back (from the DL) fresh, and for whatever reason there was no rust at all," Indians manager Terry Francona said of Carrasco. "So we're able to use that to our advantage, because his tank still looks full, and we're in the middle of August."

Carrasco's recipe for success is basic pitching 101.

"He establishes his fastball early, and once he puts his velocity in the head (of hitters), they have to respect that, and that makes his breaking ball really effective," Francona said.

Friday will be Carrasco's second start of the season against the Orioles. On April 23 in Baltimore, he was a 2-1 winner, pitching 7 1/3 innings and allowing one run and six hits, with seven strikeouts and two walks. In six career appearances against Baltimore, Carrasco is 3-2 with a 2.51 ERA.

Hess has split the 2018 season between Baltimore and Triple-A Norfolk. In nine starts for Norfolk, he was 3-2 with a 3.15 ERA.

In Hess' last start for the Orioles, he had a no-decision in a 5-4 Baltimore loss to Tampa Bay on Aug. 9. Hess pitched 5 2/3 innings in that game, allowing three runs and four hits, with three strikeouts and three walks.

Hess' last major league win came May 25. In 10 appearances (eight starts) since then, he is 0-5 with a 7.13 ERA. Friday will be his first career appearance against Cleveland.

The struggling Orioles come into Friday's game having lost 10 of their last 12 games, the last of those being a 16-5 blowout loss to the New York Mets on Wednesday.

After a lackluster first half, Cleveland started to build some momentum in the second half. The Indians are 18-8 since the All-Star break. They lead the majors with 98 stolen bases and are second in the American League with 166 home runs.

Cleveland is the only team in the majors that has four players with 70 or more RBIs: Jose Ramirez (89), Edwin Encarnacion (81), Francisco Lindor (75) and Yonder Alonso (70).